By Glenn Moore
Andy Hessenthaler was first, Warren Feeney next, then Tony Mowbray accepted the inevitable. That’s three Football League managers gone in a week. There will be many, many more before the season’s out as impatient owners with no real understanding of team-building demand impossible, immediate, results.
Among those in the line of fire, according to reports by usually well-informed journalists, is Roberto Di Matteo at Aston Villa. The Italian took charge of only his 12th match yesterday, but after Villa spent a net £35m in the summer, bringing in nine players, the first 11 matches were expected to yield more than one league win and an EFL Cup exit to League Two opposition.
Villa’s new owner and chairman, Dr Tony Xia, dismissed reports via twitter, his preferred method of communication. “As always, the medias knew something I would do that even I myself don’t know” he wrote, the mangled English proof that he writes his own tweets, rather than have a spin doctor doing it for him (and that is not intended as a dig at Xia’s command of English, which is a lot better than my Chinese).
A couple of days later, Xia followed up with: “It always takes longer than predicted, needs harder work than expected 2succeed in everything! But it’ll come. It’s my experience &philosophy.”
This sounds encouraging for Di Matteo, even if his request that Xia record a video for the players seems an odd, slightly desperate move.
Questioned by a fan as to the logic of his home movie, Xia tweeted: “I think once we win, more wins will follow….”. This may prove the case. Reports suggest Villa have played better than results indicate and the injection of confidence a win will deliver would lift the dressing room, boardroom and stadium.
However, it is equally possible that Villa will win one, draw one, win one, lose one, and so on. This is a club that has got used to losing, and turning it around is akin to reversing an oil tanker.
Villa’s last winning season was 2009-10, Martin O’Neill’s final campaign. Then, Randy Lerner turned off the money tap, O’Neill quit and results dived. In the last five seasons Villa have won 40 matches and lost 84. Last season, they won three and lost 27. The final 13 matches produced one draw and 12 defeats, a third of them by four goals or more. The results ticker looks like the L key got stuck.
Since O’Neill left, Villa have had six managers, as many transfer and playing philosophies, and continual squad turnover. The club that Xia and Di Matteo walked into this summer was a mess, lacking direction and belief, with the fans and players at odds. A club like that cannot be transformed overnight. Indeed, anyone who has coached at any level will know how difficult it is to institute a new method of playing and to blend in new players. Even a manager as successful as Jose Mourinho said rewiring the circuitry built by Louis van Gaal would take time.
It is possible for new manager to produce immediate results, but the circumstances have to be right. At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola inherited an outstanding squad who are used to winning. At Everton, Ronald Koeman found talented players who just needed the restoration of professional and defensive rigour. The playing squads of Newcastle and Bolton include many who should be at a higher level and they are quickly proving it.
In most cases, however, a manager needs time, a commodity which is increasingly rare. Yet look at Huddersfield, the most unlikely of promotion contenders. David Wagner admittedly arrived only in November with the club in 19th place, but there are chairmen out there who would have looked at last season’s run-in, when the Terriers won one of the last eight, at the finishing position of 19th and at Wagner’s record of 14 defeats and nine wins, before deciding to twist again. Dean Hoyle decided to stick and has been rewarded.
Time will tell whether Dr Xia is as patient an owner as he claims. It may be Di Matteo is the wrong man. But Xia chose him and needs to give him a proper chance to succeed. Villa crave an immediate return but they have three seasons in which parachute payments will confer a huge competitive advantage. If they do not get back by the time they expire, Villa will be in trouble, but it is far too early to panic.
They may need to start winning, but, like so many clubs, they also need stability.
*This article was originally published in The FLP on 2 October 2016.
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